This is my personal opinion so it may very from what others say but
a puppymill is someone who mass produces to make money with little to no care for any of the dogs. Dogs are in small cages to take up as little a room as possible, so they can fit more dogs to breed more. Also there is no concern for pedigree or health or guarantees, or anything. It is all about the money.

Backyard breeders-probably love the dogs but again it is all about the money. They usually show abit more concern about what they are breeding, often no health checks are done on the parents and usually no guarantees are given or rediculous guarantees. They often breed mutts but not always. They often are more interested in lining their pockets than the dogs. No contracts, no questionnaires, no follow ups...

A responsible breeder, does all the health checks on both parents, does temperment test on both parents, offers guarantees of 2 year min. Usually makes no money at all, they are in it for the dogs. They sell based on puppy questionnaires, spay/neuter contracts and they follow up on the puppies often available to answer questions or help out throughout the dogs life. They know loads of information about the breed they are breeding and it is always purebreds. Their dogs are clean, well socialized and don't leave before 8 weeks old. They take pride in helping people; they answer questions readily about there breeding practices; they often allow you to visit and see the pups and dogs and how they are kept.

Anyone who simply says I don't have to justify myself to you, when you ask about their breeding practices, run fast as you can the other way because they have something to hide. Anyone who does not willingly step up and answer the questions is a byb.

I agree with everything Yucka said. BYB's are in it for their ego and aren't very knowledgeable. My friend got his "Lhasa Apso (sp)" from a byb. He's now 13 and doesn't even look like one. His vet says he's half Lhasa Apso (sp) and half whatever you want him to be...

a license has absolutely nothing to do with it. all ta license does is designate someone who breeds dogs for a commercial purpose, which doesn't automatically make the person a responsible breeder.

in my opinion, a backyard breeder is someone who meets at least one of these criteria:

- people who breed dogs without knowing what they are doing (and mostly aren't even interested in learning more).
- may be breeding for profit or just to produce offspring of a particular dog because it is "cute" or "friendly" with disregard to any other factors.
- generally don't care about the breed standard and do not plan breedings for the betterment of the breed as a whole.
- no genetic, health and temperament testing.
- no solid health guarantee for the puppies.
- will breed a female to a male just for the purpose of producing puppies, rather than making an effort to find the best match for a desirable outcome in all regards.
- hand off puppies to anyone with enough cash to pay for it - unlike a responsible breeder who will make an effort to find the best home possible and will take the puppy back if things don't work out.

There are a ton of things, to me, that make a breeder less than desirable.. I don't have the time to list them all nor do I particularly want to. (I do have a life, believe it or not!! )

Basically: If somebody is breeding, for ANY reasons other than working towards the improvement of the breed, I consider them a backyard breeder. If somebody breeds dogs "just for companionship" I do consider them to be a backyard breeder. I don't care how healthy their dogs are, or how good they look, if they are breeding just for the sake of breeding, with no specific goal in mind, they are a BYB. (I personally call them "irresponsible breeders", backyard breeder tends to confuse non-dog people sometimes.)

It depends a lot on people's definitions. For lots of people, anyone breeding dogs without showing them is a BYB. Personally, as long as they take care of the pups properly and that the parents are fully health tested, it's fine for me.

In my opinion, a BYB is someone who like the others above have said: do not do health screens i.e. hips, cardio, patellas, eyes etc. They usually sell puppies for money and produce over 2 litters a year. They don't show or compete with their dogs, and they don't have a clue what "betterment of the breed means." They don't look to anyone else to evaluate their breeding stock and justify why a dog should be bred even if it's not up to standard, health or temperment. They usually let you pick your puppy, instead of the breeder selecting the right puppy for your family. All of the above ring true with BYB's, BUT the number one thing that "usually" makes someone a BYB is when they own all their breeding animals, so in other words they own the stud dog and the bi+ch and allow them to breed time and time again. Top breeders usually select the stud that is perfect for their bi+ch instead of owning both and settling for what will make the most money. This usually means having frozen or fresh chilled semen sent across country and performing artificial insemination etc. I will say that there are some top breeding kennels that have worked a very long time at perfecting their lines of dogs through health screens, temperment tests, and winning in the show ring and in this case, they may own the stud and the bi+ch used. Okay, I am soooo tired so I hope I made some sense LOL!!

Perfect example of a backyard breeder: the person who bred my last dog. The breeder had a husky/wolf hybrid he was breeding with an aggressive rottweiler. His goal was just to produce "the most bad@$$ dogs out there." He sold all the pups he could, then dumped the remainder at the humane society, which is where I got my dog. Of the pups he sold, almost all ended up in the pound because, as you can imagine, that mix was HIGHLY unstable. Since he was technically taking care of his dogs, the SPCA couldn't shut him down or press charges.